Dr Gail Marcus appointed new Deputy Director-General of the NEA

The Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr Donald Johnston, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Gail H. Marcus as Deputy Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), succeeding Ms Carol Kessler. Dr Marcus takes up her duties at the NEA on 5 April 2004.

From 1999 to March 2004, Dr Marcus was the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology at the US Department of Energy. She carried out the research programme on advanced reactor designs, and managed the DOE research reactors, isotope production programmes, space reactor programmes and other nuclear energy initiatives. Dr Marcus was also President of the American Nuclear Society in 2001-2002.

In 1998-1999, as Visiting Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, she conducted research on nuclear regulatory policy.

From 1985 to 1999, Dr Marcus held several positions at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC. She was Acting Deputy Executive Director for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Senior Executive in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation; NRC liaison to Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry; Technical Assistant to a Commissioner; and Senior Executive in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.

From 1980 to 1985, Dr Marcus held the position of Assistant Chief of the Science Policy Division of the Congressional Research Service in Washington, DC. Prior to that she was Deputy Chief of the Support Systems Division at Analytic Services, Inc., a government contractor, and a physicist for the US Army Electronics Command.

Dr Marcus, who is of American nationality, holds the following degrees: a Doctor of Science in Nuclear Engineering and both a Bachelor and Master of Science in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.